general boa questions

Mrjingles · #1 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 03:23 PM

Hi all, ive owned a corn for the past two years and decided to buy a boa, with size in mind ive decided on a el salvador boa or somekind of small dwarf.
Ive done enough research but still wanting to make some decisions that fall mainly on personal prefference.

sooo...

I have a 2ft by 15inch deep by 18inch high wood vivarium to start off in.
I could do with some pointers on heating and substrate for starters.

I was going to buy a heat mat like my corn, with the corns viv being glass i had now problem with heating from outside the viv, but with wood im not sure with issues such as burning and moisture, so which would you suggest?

inside with slate cover ect or outside with stat probe inside?

Would it be better to have a ceramic bulb? i heard that snakes are normaly more active with ceramics due to the whole viv being heated rather than mainly the mat surface

another question for you, what do you use for substrate with your boa?

Would be great if you could answer my questions and lead me in the right directions before i go out and buy my dwarf.

thanks all

w00t my name is Thomas · #2 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 03:30 PM

i was in the same boat until febuary there , i bought myself a hogg island , it will grow to 7ft max most likely 6 , id say if the temps are ok you should be fine with a normal bulb but if ya got lotsa muny to spare you could buy a stat and a ceramic, heat matt= wood doesnt really matter, once its hot it will get hot enough, em one thing i would defo recomend is trail running the viv for about a week or so , you will need to , it will help ya get tempos and humidity etc,
substrtate, orchid barks etc can often have mites in it, i have heard of people using aspen and it seens fine even for a boa, atm im not sure about substrate,

hope i helped

Mrjingles · #3 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 03:44 PM

Thanks for the reply, i do have a spare ceramic and stat, just thought a mat would be better lol
Im hopefully going to buy the rest of the equipment next week with my paycheque so ile run it for a week or two before i start looking.
i use aspen for my corn so it would be easier if used the same, just thought is was no good for boas.
Do you have any pics of your boa/viv, what size you got it in at the mo?cheeers!

w00t my name is Thomas · #4 (**permalink**) 04-05-2008, 02:32 PM

ok im on my ps3 but when i get on the pc i will try sort pics out etc, im still new to keeping boas, so my advice is limited due to myself still trying to see what works out best , , , if ya get me like, others will hopefully elaorate, =D. if you got hotmail pm me it or whateva i got loadsa people to bug/annoy who kep boas ;D

reptilesrock · #5 (**permalink**) 04-05-2008, 02:42 PM

I put my first common boa in a 2ft high, 2ft wide, 1ft deep wooden viv with a heat mat underneath the wood, not statted (it was under 12mm of mdf) and everything was just fine.

Then he grew.....

Moved him into a pennine viv (totally made of plastic - except the glass doors) 19" high, 36" wide, 18" deep, and fitted a spot light, statted this with a habistat dimming stat, set at 90F, and with a bulb guard around the bulb.

He grew some more.....

4x2x2 (length, depth, height) viv, wooden, mat under the viv at warm end, light blah also on warm end, same settings/stat, bigger water bowl (cat litter tray), etc etc etc.

Hope this helps

reptilesrock · #6 (**permalink**) 04-05-2008, 02:44 PM

Oh yea, one more thing,......

Carefully consider your substrate choice, it looks pretty when its pretty, but it's a royal pian in the jacksie when it aint so pretty! I use kitchen vinyl for a reason!

Spen · #7 (**permalink**) 04-05-2008, 03:13 PM

Yeah kitchen tile, newspaper, lino are good choices (if using tile or lino, cut two pieces so you can alternate when the need to clean arises). A heatmat under the viv (outside) may well get the floor temp to what's required by the ambient probably won't be great. I'd recommend the ceramic with stat, esp if you have one spare.

Oh and nice poo pic by the way. beast.

yasmin_gedeon · #8 (**permalink**) 04-05-2008, 05:11 PM

i use ceramics for my boas that are in the room that needs heating,
i have a digital thermometer and also a hydrometer inside

for substates i use coir - eco earth - newspaper and spagnum moss
and i give them all hides and things to climb on

good luck

Incubuss · #9 (**permalink**) 04-05-2008, 05:21 PM

I use coir as subsrate, it helps with humidity and doesn't get stuck in their heat pits like aspen can. I heat the vivs with a statted bulb with guard (a must!). A few hides and loads of climbing space.

snakecharmer · #10 (**permalink**) 04-05-2008, 08:29 PM

I heat my boas with heat lamps with mesh guards (essential!). I built my viv as a stack with a large hole cut in the adjoining bit so it's two tiered with a shelf, so I can have big chunky branches coming up through the hole to provide good climbing and lounging furniature and a lamp on each level at the same end to give a good choice of basking spots. They're got plastic washing up bowls for water but if you go down this route you may find you need to make a holder/trough out of a cut wooden plank or similar, fixed in with a bracket so that you can slot the water bowl in and it wont get tipped over that way!!

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